Fluctuation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Quaternary

Abstract

The Quaternary researches in the Antarctic region are reviewed, not critically but rather introductorily, with emphasis on the fluctuation of the ice sheet. In the McMurdo Sound region, where the largest ice-free area in Antarctica offers an important field to students of earth sciences, the chronology of interaction among the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Ross Ice Shelf and independent alpine glaciers seems to have been established. However, recently distinguished marine sediments in the dry valleys would open the new stage for the re-evaluation of glacial events in the region. On the other hand, glacial history in other regions of Antarctica was based on relative chronology. Almost all the correlations are tentative. The problem of disintegration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the interglacials and the post glacial of the Northern Hemisphere is probably another focus of discussion. The Hollin's hypothesis that the waxing and waning of the ice sheet is controlled primarily by the eustatic change in sea level should be prudently applied to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.